Tag: vintage furniture. recycled materials

Moving Home comes with a great opportunity to let go of a lot of clutter and take stock of what is of real value. Leaving behind a three bed semi with a very large garden for a small 1 bedroom cottage is the perfect platform for a spot of recycling. Enter Necessary Furniture, a local company who for the cost of a phone call will come and take away unwanted items of furniture to a warehouse where things are stored until someone else decides to give them a new home, in return for a very modest fee! Other small items of furniture found shelter among family and friends. Some slightly more weary pieces found their way into the Council wood recyling facility.

Those bits that made it on to the van and off the other end got a shock……. Where are the white walls and stripped wooden floors we went so well with? A green carpet? Suddenly all the stripped furniture looks totally out of synch and dated, even scruffy. Being in rented accommodation and for an indefinite time means having to live with it for now. And there’s still plenty of life left in this solid vintage furniture. As the days go by, with smaller windows letting in lower levels of light, a flash of inspiration pierces the gloom and “Eureka – I reach for the paintbrush!” Shabby Chic saves the day! It started with the chest of drawers in the bedroom, and spread to the desk and then to the sideboard in the living room, and on to the shelf in the hall. Where will it all end? Where else can you get so much fun from £14.99? And the pot’s not empty yet ! It took a bit of hunting to get the right shade of grey, but there was a soft light shade in the Dulux mix-your-own range. Not so stark as white, but still light enough to merge with the green carpet and go with the magnolia walls! I’m sure I’ll find other things to shabby chic to the end of the pot.

Sideboard in Dusted Moss

Not sure what to do about the curtains yet, but I’m sure I’ll come up with something…….

While on the subject of recycling, a fab site called Tactile Interiors has lots of wonderful things made from ethical, sustainable and recyled materials. Check out the lovely lampshade and table lamp made from re-cycled plastic bottles at www.tactile-interiors.co.uk